Healthcare Update — 11-26-2012

Whatever the hospital is paying this person … it’s not enough. After Hurricane Sandy hit, ED tech Marsha Hedgepeth swam down the flooded road from her apartment to a major highway and then hitchhiked ride with out-of-state utility truck to get to work so she could help other hurricane victims. Amazing dedication.

Note to criminals, if you get injured committing a crime, one of the first places that police look for you is … in the emergency department. Five kids beat up one kid and steal his belongings. When victim goes to the ED for treatment, guess who shows up? Now 18-year-old Joseph Scott is charged with several felonies and will take a nice vacation in the Greybar Motel.http://murrieta.patch.com/articles/robbery-suspect-arrested-in-hospital-emergency-room

New Hampshire jury awards plaintiff $5 million after radiologist mis-reads CT scan of 25 year old headache patient showing evidence of a stroke. Later, allegedly due to the delay, the patient suffered brain hemorrhage and permanent disabilities.

What are the most common reasons that patients come to the emergency department for Thanksgiving? Here’s one doctor’s list.
My experience differs somewhat. Who comes to the emergency department because they ate too much? Family member issues involve more patients whose children haven’t visited them in the past 12 months who return to find that mom or dad aren’t as spry as they were a year ago and want to make sure that there’s nothing wrong with them.
By the way, am I the only one wondering why this guy brought his kid with him on camera? First the kid flops over like he just went unresponsive and then by the end of the segment, the doc literally had to put his kid in a wrestling hold to get him to sit still.

Next on the FDA’s hit list … 5 hour energy shots. The supplement mayhave been involved in as many as 13 deaths in the past 4 years.May …
have been involved with …
Quick, let’s ban this stuff before it may be involved with another death.

To save almost £3 billion in costs, the UK is planning to implement “virtual clinics” where patients connect with doctors through iPads and Skype. Don’t have an iPad? Can’t afford broadband internet access? Unable to connect? Not sure of the credentials of the person on the other end of the screen? Who cares? That’s what your insurance covers.
Coming soon to a country near you …
You get what you pay for.

Do all drunks need to be brought to the emergency department? This Colorado study says “no”. Then again, the old adage goes:
If something is dead and you don’t know what to do with it, send it to pathology. If something is alive and you don’t know what to do with it, send it to the emergency department.
Of course if you were on my Twitter feed, you’d already know that.

Leeches, anyone? Old fashioned medical remedies making a comeback. Personally, just looking at these things sucking on the glass gives me the heebie jeebies. And if you’ve never seen what “cupping” looks like (no, I’m not talking about bra sizes), check out the video on the site.

Stumbled across a nice review site for emergency medicine review articles and podcasts courtesy of the Vanderbilt department of emergency medicine. Keeping Up with Emergency Medicine. Check it out.

What an inspiring story about the heroic effort made by the E.D. tech to get to work during the hurricane. I’d have given that woman a medal of some sort.

At some of the hospitals I have worked, however, the nurse manager would have started the disciplinary process for an employee like this for:

1. Showing up late (it is an employees obligation to “plan better” when it comes to getting to work on time.

2. No I.D. badge. We have a zero tolerance policy for employees who are not wearing theirs and swimming to work through hurricane surf is no excuse for losing it. Additionally, there is a fee that will now have to be paid by the employee so human resources can make a replacement I.D.